Schmidt Talks Vex Reagan Aides

November 30, 1980

West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's meeting last week with President-elect Ronald Reagan has resulted in some annoyed advisors to Reagan and a potential strain in the new administration's relations with Bonn, according to informed sources.

Unhappiness over the aftermath of the Reagan-Schmidt meeting may also have contributed to bad feelings within the Reagan camp toward George P. Schultz, once regarded as a leading candidate to become Reagan's secretary of state, but now apparently out of the running. Schultz, a friend of Schmidt's, worked hard to help arrange the meeting with Reagan, these sources said.

Reagan agreed to see Schmidt in Washington last week after initially indicating a reluctance to see any foreign leaders during the transition period. Earlier, Reagan had declined to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, a fact that was recalled unhappily in Israel after Reagan did agree to meet Schmidt.

The Schmidt visit was supposed to be just a courtesy call that would last a few minutes. Instead it went on for about 50 minutes, apparently at Schmidt's initiative.

What annoyed some of Reagan's advisors is that not only did Schmidt extend the visit unilaterally, but also that he quickly appeared to take political advantage of it by commenting on it at a press conference here, then exploiting it extensively in a speech to the West German Bundestag when he returned home.

In that speech Schmidt implied that he and Reagan see eye to eye on the importance of East-West agreements on arms control, but sources here say the chancellor's statements "went a little further than did the substance of the conversation" between the two men.

These sources cautioned, however, that if some Reagan aides were annoyed with Schmidt, this doesn't mean that Reagan himself is. They point out that Schmidt showed considerable courtesy to Reagan when he visited Bonn two years ago, at a time when his chances of winning the presidency seemed remote.

The sources also said that Scmidt may have prolonged the meeting with Reagan because of a misunderstanding anbout how long it was supposed to last rather than a desire to exploit the event for the chancellor's own political purposes.